Archive for the ‘Uncategorized’ Category

We should have brought our fancy camera to better record this wonderful historical moment for the Sweet Songs CD. Holy Moly, these photos could really use a face lift!

Thanks so much to all the Austin Mamas who rallied together last week to go buy their copy and support the Sweet Songs for Mama’s Milk cause. In selling 40 copies at Waterloo, we shot up to #4 nationwide. Rock it!

Don’t live in Austin and are wondering where the heck you can get your own copy? You can help us keep our ranking at the local store if you purchase at Waterloo or please visit austinsweetsongs.com. Thank you!

The article came out in the New York Times last weekend. Author, Jennifer Mendelsohn,attended and reviewed a blogging conference called Bloggy Boot Camp designed for “Mommy Bloggers,” interviewing several attendees and panelists for the article. The headline, lead copy, article placement (Style section versus Business) and accompanying artwork has offended a significant number of highly-respected parenting blog writers and lit up a very heated debate of comments on numerous blog sites.

Reading the piece and some of the many reviews (PhD in Parenting, The Huffington Post and Mom101) along with several of the comments on a few sites, I’m first struck at how incredible it is that a debate can occur the way it does today thanks to the new world called the Blogosphere that inspired the article in the first place.

Like many of you, I grew up in the 70’s and 80’s. Our children will find it so archaic to hear about how we communicated through phones attached to the wall and that we were lucky if we had a long stretchy cord that allowed us to walk around the room while we gabbed. They’ll laugh that we wrote hand-written letters and passed notes on folded up pieces of paper in class. And the fact that we had to schlep to the bookstore or the library to research something will be our generation’s “When I was your age I walked 5 miles to school in the snow” story.

Now we experience instant conversations with multiple people. From around the world. Instant information. Instant debates. All kinds of voices expressing themselves on everything and anything. Offending. Being Offended. All in a few key strokes. I’m transported for a moment, hearing one of my favorite thick-Texas-accent lines from the documentary Hands on a Hard Body: “It’s a human drama.” (more…)

I was drawn to participate in this month’s API Speaks blog carnival because I find the topic so interesting in its subjectivity. I view myself as:

An advocate of breastfeeding for both its health and nurturing benefits;

Someone desiring to provide and model healthy eating for my children (today we had mac-n-cheese, veggie burgers and fries….some days are better than others); and

Someone with deep curiosity around the intensely personal, primal nature of feeding our young that exists cross-culturally among mothers.

I feel very fortunate to be alive today and part of a generation of women that can experience so much when it comes to equal rights with men. I’m all about competing with men professionally and earning equal pay.

AND at the same time, I like to acknowledge gender differences and embrace all that is inherently feminine. During this chapter of early parenting years, I personally feel a great sense of my own femininity when nurturing my children with their daily sustenance. I feel connected to all other mothers in the world through this practice — including animals — especially birds for some reason. Funny that one of my 20-something nicknames was “Monnie Bird.”

Guzer.com Photo

I think the highly personal aspect of feeding our children with love and respect is how we each define what that means a little differently. To tell a mother that she’s not feeding her child right — iye, iye, iye — that can be seriously offensive! It seems to cut to the core of a defining aspect of motherhood.

So without implying any kind of critique if yours is different, here’s a window into my family’s practice of feeding with love and respect:

Extended Breastfeeding. This is a relative term…some moms define “extended” to mean until a child chooses to wean which could be age four or five. Each to their own. My goal is two years for my littlest. (more…)

The cost depends on which piece of pottery you choose. On Wednesdays, all children’s pottery is $3 off. A fun, paint-it-yourself pottery studio, all supplies are provided; instructions on how to paint provided as well.

Every Sunday at 10:30, check the web site calendar to see what the show is as it changes every week. This Sunday (January 10), it’s a free Music Together sampler of with Michael Shay of Music Forever, Music Together.

Learned about the new Family Saturdays program from a fellow Austin AP Mama. Sounds super cool! Every second Saturday, the first one is tomorrow, January 9 and will repeat Repeat on the second Saturday of the month until 12/01/2010
Time: 12:00 PM – 4:00 PM, Family Yoga (1 pm)

For each of the these classes that are just for toddlers, there is another class at the same time that Moms or Dads can take. And check this out, on Saturdays, the 9:00 – 10:00 class for adults is Hip Hop Yoga. Rock!